1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to strollers, and more particularly to a one-hand operational control device for a stroller to improve both its safety and operability. The folding process of the stroller includes a simple and practical single-action operation by an adult's hand.
2. Description of Related Arts
A stroller is considered as a transportation tool to carry the baby or young child during outdoor activities such as walking and shopping. For convenience, the stroller is preferred to be quickly and easily unfolded for use and folded into a compact unit for carriage so that a user can carry the stroller everywhere.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional foldable stroller comprises a supporting frame, a seat frame pivotally supported by the supporting frame, and a U-shaped handle frame pivotally extended from the supporting frame. The foldable stroller further comprises a locking control device for selectively locking and unlocking the stroller in its unfolded position.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A-2D, the locking control device A20 comprises a pair of first locking members A21 provided at two end portions of the handle frame, a pair of second locking members A22 provided on the supporting frame, and an operation unit A30 comprising a turn switch A31 rotatably mounted on the handle frame and a thumb pusher A32 movably mounted on the turn switch A32 in a vertical movable manner, as shown in FIG. 1. FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate different kinds of the first and second locking members A21, A22, B21, B22, C21, C22, D21, D22 of the locking control device A20, B20, C20, D20 for the conventional foldable stroller.
In order to unlock the foldable stroller, the user must intentionally press the thumb pusher A32 downwardly by his or her thumb and rotate the turn switch A31 backwardly simultaneously so as to drive the first locking members A21 to be disengaged with the second locking members A22. Therefore, the user can push the handle frame forwardly to fold up the foldable stroller.
However, such a locking control device has a major drawback in that the user must use his or her thumb to depress the thumb pusher and turn the turn switch by his or her hand at the same time. Due to the muscular structure of the human body, when the user's thumb presses on the thumb pusher, especially for women, the wrist of the user becomes too tense to turn downwards to rotate the turn switch. Similar operational problem occurs when the user has to rotate the turn switch backward and push the handle frame forward in order to fold up the stroller at the same time. Therefore, the user has difficulty operating the two actions of the locking control device at the same time. In other words, the operation of the locking control device is considered disadvantageous in practical use. When the user operates the locking control device improperly, an unwanted injury to the user, such as twisting his or her wrist, may be resulted.